I think people tend to be using a range of microphones which are basically surplus to requirements.
I have also been wondering: we are planning workshops to design and build some stream kits as successors to the streamboxes. What would be the right price and quality points for the mics and the preamps.
I dont know if between us we could propose, say, 3 sets of equipment at different prices point that would balance and work?
bw grant
On 21 Jul 2013, at 11:27, Patrick Perdue wrote:
Out of curiosity, what types of microphones are you using with these devices? Generally speaking, I haven't really liked what I've seen from most of these single USB mic preamp boxes, I.E. Icicle, MXL MicMate, and a couple of others that I don't remember now. They're all particularly bad with low output dynamic mics, which I prefer using for my stream because of their ability to handle pretty much anything that's been thrown at them so far. I don't think you could pay me enough money to leave an externally biased electric condenser practically exposed to the elements full time as I have done with my dynamics. Electret condensers, on the other hand, are a bit less likely to die from a bit of water than electrics. There are some dedicated devices, like the CEntrance MicPort Pro, which handles quite well even with lower output mics, but that particular box goes for about $150.
Yes, I noticed this one being recommended but haven't used it.
I have been trying to come up with a cheap, compact and reliable way to do high quality fixed location stereo streams. My setup sounds pretty good, wasn't terribly expensive, but has several components, and isn't very unobtrusive, as there is a pair of cardioid dynamic microphones and an ORTF stereo bar involved. I've thought of using something like a pair of Panasonic WM61 capsules and finding a way to mount them on some sort of baffle to shape the sound a bit more accurately than a generic pair of spaced omni-directional microphones, but these unbalanced electret mics create problems with grounded systems, resulting in 50/60 hz hum, system bus noise, etc. This can be eliminated, but usually at a much more significant cost than the sum of the rest of the system. A friend in England has such a configuration, and I used some software processing to notch 50 hz and second/third harmonics out, but that isn't necessarily ideal. He is using a Samsung NC10 netbook with it's onboard sound chip and a pair of Sound Professionals MS-BMC3 microphones, which are both very hot and have quite a nice signal-to-noise ratio.
My stream currently uses some old sound professionals stereo omnis via a minidisk recorder to an ibook over ethernet. Typical bricolage really
The problem is that the netbook's Realtek chip doesn't have a lot of headroom. It's basically being driven at just above line level with some processing on the other side, and still some loud sounds clip the front-end out pretty significantly. And, of course, there is the grounding issue. There is no way to balance those mics, which requires at least three conductors per mic, preferably five for a stereo pair, when all three conductors are used already. I've looked at trying to find a way to isolate this through transformers, but the mics would need to be powered from another external source to make that work properly.
On 7/20/2013 6:11 AM, grant wrote:
hi udo and all
on the raspberry pi s :
Gregoire Lauvin is clearly the expert on Pi streaming.
There are some pictures of his streaming pi s here http://locusonus.org/w/?page=Proj+Lauvin
I think he is working on a howto and a disk image for the Pi.
The Icicle soundcard from Blue microphones, which Gregoire is using is quite expensive [€49 form thomann]. I was wondering if anybody has compared the cheaper t.bone usb micplug [€25] or something else.
We are also messing with the pi in parallel and will have an update soon.
I noticed there is something on pi s in the documentation with pd-extended.
bw grant
On 18 Jul 2013, at 09:13, udo noll wrote:
grant:
Some of those are likely to be resolved by the new Raspberry Pi streamers which Gregoire has up and working. They have the potential to be an affordable reliable successor to the Streamboxes for a new generation of streams.
At CRISAP in London we are planning a workshop to get people started building Raspberry Pi streamkits. It would be good to hear from people interested in that - which could also be expanded out to other places
hello Grant et al,
are there any howtos etc. on building a streamer with rasPIs? i know that it's not so difficult, but it would save some time. there was some discussion on running liquidsoap on a PI powered by a solar panel.
if only android phones would support external mics like the rode ixy for the ifon, that would be a perfect solution for ad hoc streaming in reasonable quality.
udo
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